


A Different Kind of Family

by docs_google



Category: Original Work
Genre: Biblical References, Disaster Gays, F/F, Family, Honestly they are all messes, but we love them anyways
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-20
Updated: 2020-02-18
Packaged: 2021-02-19 02:55:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22337341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/docs_google/pseuds/docs_google
Summary: Jennifer is a young teenager who put herself in charge of eleven other kids. One night when she's walking down the street, catastrophe strikes, and she is only saved by a short girl named Jillian Iva. The two of them grow closer as time passes, and Jillian Iva learns more about this group of lost children she's put herself into and more about Jennifer.~Warning (kind of)~ This has many biblical references to Jesus and the 12 disciples. Don't read if you are not alright with that.
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

It was a stormy night, with just one person walking, a tall, African-American girl, wearing all black clothes with only her hoodie shielding her from the rain. She walked quickly and covered a bag she was tightly clutching, hiding it from the rain when she saw a man who appeared to be waving her down for help. 

She walked over to him and asked what the problem was, and he said, “My dog is hurt.” 

The girl asked in a concerned tone, “Where is the dog?” and the man pointed to a dumpster. 

The girl walked to the other side of the dumpster and began to kneel to care for the animal, but there was no dog. The man pulled a knife out and told her to give him the bag. 

She refused, and the man said, “Do you not see this knife?” 

“I do, but I’m not going to give you the bag.” The man was about to stab her when—from nowhere—someone jumped on his back and started attacking him. 

The mugger started spinning and trying to break free. When this failed, he ran backward to slam his attacker against a wall, but the person jumped off before he could, and the man hit his head. He quickly turned and shoved the person who had jumped on his back, kicked the girl in the leg, took her bag, and ran. The tall girl began to chase after him when the other person stopped her. When the tall girl turned around, she saw a shorter pale girl with long brown hair holding her right arm.

“There’s no use going after him; you’ll just get hurt,” the shorter girl said bluntly. 

The tall girl looked her in the eyes and smiled, “Thank you for saving me.” 

“Don’t mention it,” she said as she began to walk away.

The taller girl started following her and said, “My name is Jenny—Jennifer—people call me Jenny.” 

“Thanks for telling me, I guess.” as she began to speed up. 

Jennifer matched her pace, and when she asked what her name was, the other girl answered, “My name is Jillian Iva; I’ve really got to be going now.” 

She turned the corner, hoping that Jennifer would be gone, but Jennifer called after her, “Hey Jillian, do you need a place to stay?”

Jillian turned around confused and asked, “Why would you think I would? What do you know about me? Nothing. You know nothing. So leave me alone!” Jillian began walking away again, and Jennifer ran up to her and stopped her. 

“How about you stay just for dinner? I owe you for saving me.” 

“You owe me nothing, so just go away!”

“At least consider it. Here take this. Come if you change your mind.”

Jennifer smiled at Jillian again and began to head in the opposite direction. Jillian looked at what Jennifer handed to her. It was a business card that had folded so many times that it almost ripped in half. The original text was scratched out and replaced with:

  
  


Jennifer Claire Simons 

@ 1596 Evelyn Rd. 

Rock Springs, Wyoming, 82901

Hope to see you soon! 

  
Jillian looked behind her for Jennifer, but she was gone. Jillian read over the card again, and muttered under her breath, “What the heck was up with that girl?” Then she stuffed the card in her pocket and began walking again.


	2. Chapter 2

Checking the business card one last time, Jillian walked up the steps and looked the three-story house up and down.

“This can’t be the right address,” Jillian remarked as turned around to look for the house—or any house as a matter of fact. As she walked away, the porch light turned on. Jillian didn’t want to get in trouble for trespassing—especially at such a late hour—so she ran down the stairs and hid beneath them. She heard the door open and then a familiar voice. 

“I thought you said you saw someone out here?” Jennifer asked.

“I did!” An unknown voice yelled defensively.

“I believe you. She must have left. I really thought she would be our next member.” The door closed, but the light stayed on. Jillian snuck out from under the stairs and ran till she couldn’t see the porch light anymore.

“Next member? What the hell does that even mean? Who was the other—?” Interrupting Jillian’s train of thought was a loud crackle of thunder followed by the rain starting again. Jillian knew she needed to get under a roof. She thought of going to one of Jennifer’s neighbors until she remembered that her entire way here, she had not seen another house in miles. The rain and wind were picking up too much for her to walk so far. She knew she had to go back to Jennifer’s house. As the rain worsened, she began to run to her house. 

\-----------

When she arrived at Jennifer’s house, she rang the doorbell, and a few seconds later, Jennifer opened the door. 

Jennifer smiled and jokingly said, “Took you long enough.” She then noticed that Jillian was drenched.

“Come in before you get sick. I have some clothes that might fit you if you want to change into them while I dry your clothes.”

“That would be nice. Thank you.”

“Alright, stay right here. I’ll be right back.” Jennifer jogged to her room, and a minute later was back with clothes. “Here. Sorry if these don’t fit well. The bathroom is the farthest door down the hallway on your right.”

“Thanks again,” Jillian said as she walked to the bathroom. Once she was in the bathroom, she put the clothes down next to the sink. “Okay, think Jillian think. Something is definitely wrong here. What if they’re murderers? Or cannibals? Or a cult? Why would she invite me here to begin with? What would I become a member of?” Jillian took off her wet clothes and put on the dry ones. “Why is this house so big? How many people live here?” Jillian picked up her wet clothes, took a deep breath, and left the bathroom.

Jennifer was sitting on the stairs, staring at her phone when she saw Jillian. She said, “Hey! You can put your clothes on the washer and dryer under the stairs. So, dinner is almost ready, but it will be a few more minutes. I said I would set the table tonight, so do you mind helping out?”

“Not at all, just lead the way.” Jennifer walked down the hallway and turned right at the final archway. When they walked into the dining room, there was a large wooden table with thirteen chairs. 

“The utensils are in the kitchen, so sit wherever you’d like so I can go grab them.” Jennifer turned around and went through a doorway. Jillian sat down at the head of the table, and a few minutes later, Jennifer walked out of the kitchen with forks, steak knives, and spoons and handed them to Jillian to set up. Jennifer walked back in the kitchen, and just as Jillian finished came back out with a large bowl of salad and a plate of food, followed by three other people. A tall boy was carrying five plates that looked like they were about to fall over and two short girls carrying four plates each. All of them set the plates of food down on the table, and the boy and two girls walked back into the kitchen. Jennifer stuck her head into the hallway and yelled, “Dinner’s ready!”

Jillian heard many quick footsteps running to the dining room, and soon after, seven teenagers and a child were taking their seats. Jillian stared at the group in confusion. 

The youngest one looked at her and then whispered to Jennifer, “What’s wrong with her?” 

“She’s new, don’t be rude Jonah,” Jennifer whispered back. “Jillian, I would like to introduce you to everyone. So, to my left is Sarah Phoebe, Jadon, and Toby. Across the table from you is Noah. On the right is Preston, Joyce, Sam, and Jonah. And you remember Jada, Madeline, and Aaron when we were bringing dinner out.” 

“Well, it’s nice to meet all of you. I’m Jillian Iva, but Jennifer—.”

“Jenny.” Jonah corrected.

“Yeah. Jenny, sorry. I was wondering where your parents or guardians or general caretakers are.”

“We don’t have any,” Jennifer said. “It’s just the twelve of us.”

“But all of you are minors? Isn’t that illegal?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Um… Okay.” Everyone sat in silence for a minute, eating their dinner. “I was also wondering—since it’s still raining—if I can stay the night.”

Jennifer looked up and smiled, “Yeah! You can totally stay the night. After dinner, I’ll show you where you can sleep.” The rest of the meal was filled with quiet chatter between the thirteen people. 


	3. Chapter 3

Later, Jennifer took Jillian to the guest room as the others did the dishes. The guest room was on the third floor to the left of the staircase. The room was spacious—considering the number of people living in the house. Against the back wall, there was a queen size bed with a large chest of drawers to the left. Across from the bed was a chestnut desk with a leather chair and a lamp in the corner.  
“So, if you need anything at all my room is down by the downstairs bathroom. The bathrooms are down the hall. Oh, do you need a toothbrush?”   
“Yeah, I do.”  
“I’ll go get you one. Be right back.” Jennifer said as she started running down the stairs.   
Jillian walked over to the desk and began going through the drawers, rambling, “There must be something here. Something to explain these people. This place.”  
“Jillian? Jillian, what are you doing?” Jennifer said running up to stop her.  
“Get away from me! What is wrong with you people?”  
“What are you talking about? There’s nothing wrong with us?”  
“All of you are so creepy, especially you!”  
“What have I done?”  
“Well to start you asked me if I needed a place to stay, and then handed me a creepy business card that said, ‘Hope to see you soon!’. And then you said, ‘I really thought she would be our next member.’ Which is beyond creepy!”  
“I asked if you needed a place to stay because you were walking alone outside in the middle of a thunderstorm and I was just carrying that business card around with me. And the ‘next member’ thing is a joke that Joyce and I have. It’s not meant to be creepy; it literally means nothing.”  
“No offense, but I doubt that it means nothing. Even if you guys aren’t a cult of some kind, what would I be joining?”  
“Well, we were hoping you’d join us here. We all live together and help each other out. We were hoping you’d join our family.”  
“That sounds like a cult.”  
“It’s not a cult,” Jennifer said with a chuckle. “You don’t have to decide now, but you should consider it. I promise we’re all nice people and we’re not murderers or something. So just think about it.” Jennifer turned around to leave, “Oh yeah, here’s your toothbrush.” Jennifer said handing the toothbrush to Jillian. “Good night.” Jennifer left the room, closing the door behind her.   
“They’re definitely some kind of cult.” Jillian said turning the lights off to go to bed.


	4. Chapter 4

When Jillian woke up, her clothes were neatly folded on the desk across the room. She got up, got changed, and walked to the bathrooms down the hallway to brush her teeth. As she walked through the quiet hallway, she saw that each of the doors had been elegantly decorated and labeled with a person’s name, something she hadn’t noticed in the oddities of the night prior.  
Next to her room was Noah’s, which was painted a light blue with little sheep jumping over a fence. After was Sarah Phoebe’s room. On the door, there was a beautiful river with three fish leaping out. Across the hall was Aaron’s room, which instead of a river, it was the ocean, full of odd and wonderful fish. To the right of Aaron’s room was Joyce’s, was a quill in a jar of ink near an empty sheet of worn paper. Finally, across from Jillian’s room was Jadon’s. Jadon’s door was a dull beige that looked boring compared with the other doors.   
After Jillian brushed her teeth, she headed down the long staircase, through the oddly silent house, and towards the dining room. Jillian turned the corner into the dining room to see a large empty table with only Jennifer sitting at the head of the table on her phone.   
“Good morning,” Jennifer said, standing up with a smile.  
“Mornin’,” Jillian said, still a bit groggy, “Where is everyone?”  
“School. Well kind of. It’s more like home school where you’re your own teacher.”  
“Does that work? Does that even count for credit? Don’t you have to have an adult teach you stuff?”  
“It does count, and yes, technically you have to have an adult teacher, but it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”   
“Um… alright.”  
The two of them awkwardly stood there for a moment before Jennifer asked if Jillian wanted some breakfast. Jillian rejected her, plunging them back into silence.   
“Are you still stuck on the schooling.”  
“Yeah! I might not know much, but I’m pretty sure that there needs to be a legal adult teaching them, or they need to be in public school.”  
“Well, it’s hard to explain, but I can promise that it’s fine. If you want to learn about it, you can follow Aaron around as he does his work.”  
“Okay… I guess. Where is he?”  
“He’s outside in the backyard in the garden.” Jennifer said, standing up, “Follow me.”  
The two of them walked outside to a large garden full of colorful flowers, tall trees, and a large fountain with four concrete benches around the fountain forming a circle. Laying on one of the benches was a scraggly boy with curly, light brown hair, reading a book that he was holding above his head. As Jillian and Jennifer walked up, he turned his head. Once he saw the two girls, he put a piece of paper in his book and shut it.   
“What can I help you with, ladies?” Aaron said, sitting up, facing the girls.  
“Hey Aaron, would you mind if Jillian follows you around while you do your schoolwork today?” Jennifer asked.  
“Why would I mind a pretty girl hanging out with me all day?” Aaron said smiling.  
“Okay, well, you crazy kids have fun!”Jennifer said, walking away. Aaron looked down at his book for a minute before standing up, quickly catching Jillian’s eye.  
“So… introductions, I’m Aaron, obviously, nice to properly meet you.” Aaron said smiling, extending his hand.   
Jillian shook his hand and replied, “I’m Jillian, nice to meet you too.” Quickly silence fell, and the two just stood there, nodding. “So, what kind of school work do you do?” Jillian asked.  
“Multivariable Calculus.”   
“Oh, cool,” Aaron opened his book again and started reading it, “You know, I’ve never done Multivariable Calculus before, but I’m pretty sure a book titled Mysteries of the Deep, isn't it.”  
Aaron stared blankly at Jillian for a moment, then his stoic expression broke, and he smiled and laughed a little. “You caught me. I’m reading this super cool book about the ocean and the different creatures that live in it. It’s really awesome and kind of scary, but mainly awesome.”  
The two of them sat outside, talking about random things they found interesting. They started with deep-sea fish, then aliens, then conspiracy theories about the US Government. After a couple hours of talking, the two went inside for a late lunch. Aaron went into the kitchen while Jillian waited in the empty living room. Not long after Aaron, came out holding two haphazardly made sandwiches. After a quick lunch, Aaron and Jillian walked around the house and backyard; the two were having a good time when a sudden question popped into Jillian’s head.  
“So Aaron, how did you meet Jennifer and come to this place?”  
Aaron stopped and then responded, “Well Jenny and I have known each other since we were kids. We met when I was around 12, she would have been 11 around this time, and she basically helped me not die. Without her, who knows what my life would be like.” Aaron slowly faded out, getting lost in deep thought.  
“Um, well I should probably get back to the house, I have to talk with Jennifer about something.” Jillian said half lying while backing away towards the house. Aaron gave a nod indicating that he heard her, but said nothing more as he walked towards the ring of benches surrounding the fountain to sit. Jillian turned around and walked back to the house, quickly trying to think of a good excuse for why she ditched Aaron.


	5. Chapter 5

Jillian walked into the house, ready to give Jennifer her master excuse of ‘Aaron had something to do,’ but when she stepped inside, Jennifer was nowhere to be found. Jillian knocked on her bedroom door, but there was no answer, she checked the kitchen, but it was empty, she even ran upstairs to see if Jennifer was there. The house was completely silent, aside from Jillian’s rapid footsteps. Finally, Jillian ran downstairs and settled in the living room, deciding that everyone was still doing their ‘school work’ and that Jennifer must have gone out for something.  
As she sat there, her thoughts began to spiral. How can Jennifer own such a large house? Where are everyone’s parents? How does Jennifer afford food and electricity and random books? What’s really going on here? As if Jennifer knew Jillian was beginning to question everything, she walked into the house, carrying multiple plastic bags.  
“Hey, Jillian, what’s up? You look kinda distraught.”  
“Hm, yeah nothing, it’s just… um… what’s that in your hands. It looks heavy. Do you need help with it?”  
“I know you’re trying to avoid giving me a straight answer, but whatever. And yes, you can help if you want. This is the stuff for dinner tonight.” After this, the two of them went into the kitchen and set off to work, later they were joined by Sarah Phoebe and Jadon. The four of them spent their time cooking, joking, and talking about how their day had been. Time flew by so quickly that by the time they were done, it was dark outside and everyone had returned and scattered around the house. Jennifer and Jillian left Sarah Phoebe and Jadon in the kitchen while they set the table. Then Jennifer poked her head out into the hallway and yelled dinner.  
Quickly almost everyone gathered at the table. The food was set, and conversations died down as everyone began to eat. The dinner was similar to the night before only one person was missing, Aaron. Despite all the time that had already passed, Aaron wasn’t there. Jillian looked at Jennifer with a concerned look, Jennifer instantly understood nodding approvingly. Jillian got up and headed towards the door without trying to disturb the people too much. She went out to the yard and walked to the fountain where the two of them had met before. Laying down with a book held over his head was Aaron. When he heard Jillian approaching, he shut the book, disregarding his bookmark, and sat up.  
“Hey, you weren’t at dinner, so I came to see if you were alright.”  
“I’m fine. I just don’t really want anything to eat right now.”  
“Oh, alright, well do you want some company, I already ate enough.”  
“I’m good, thanks though. It’s too dark out now, so I’m going to go back to my room. Tell Jennifer I’m okay, she worries too much.”  
“Yeah, I will.” The two walked into the house together, Aaron ran up the stairs and into his room as Jillian walked back into the dining room. Everyone was pretty much done eating, and slowly people began putting their plates up and going back up to their rooms. After a few minutes, it was only Noah, Jennifer and Jillian left at the table. Jillian finished her food, and Noah brought all the plates to the kitchen to be washed.   
Jennifer walked with Jillian and pulled her into her room. “So, what happened to Aaron?”  
“I don’t know he just said to tell you that he’s fine, he didn’t say anything else.”  
“Was he like this earlier when you guys were hanging out?”  
“Well, not until the end of our conversation. At that point, he just kinda walked away, so I went back to the house.”  
“What were you guys talking about?” Jennifer said, sounding more upset every time she spoke.  
“I just asked how the two of you met! He got kinda spacey and walked away, so I let him! Jesus!”   
“Alright, then,” Jennifer said, walking out, leaving Jillian alone. Jillian stood there for a second, then went upstairs to bed.   
The next morning Jillian woke up and went downstairs to eat breakfast. Every person she walked by either ignored her or gave her a dirty look. She turned the corner to see an empty table. There were no plates, or cups, or Jennifer. Jillian slowly began to remember the fight from the night before and knocked on Jennifer’s door. There was no answer. She walked into the living room to be met with glares from three kids in the room. Without stopping, she walked to the front door and left. As she marched off, she thought if they’re going to all hate me so much, then I have no reason to stay, so she left and made her way back to town, vowing to not return.


End file.
